A is for “As You Wish”

Spoiler Alert: Content from this blog entry was featured in the April 22, 2015 episode of The Goldbergs

(The Goldbergs Twitter)

During the summer in 1991, The Rocketeer flew into our imaginations with rocket-fueled fun (don’t forget about the gum). To a six-year-old, it was a spectacular time to be alive. What was better than the idea of flying like Superman, without needing Kryptonian genetics, through the skies to save the world?

The answer was nothing.

Mesmerized, I took it upon myself to scrounge through my very own tool shed/kitchen drawers to find the necessary pieces to build my own personal flying machine. With an old garage door opener in hand, I was one click away from soaring to unknown heights and adventure! This enthusiasm was shared by Adam Goldberg in last night’s episode, except his cinematic obsession was the cult favorite, The Princess Bride. Specifically, it was the film’s famous sword fight that drew him in. Fought on a dramatically set cliff, the battle was intense and immensely entertaining. And the dialogue was surprisingly equitable and conversational.

Another battle fought on a cliff of sorts was between Adam and Murray, underscored by a jockeying of similar interests and ulterior motives. Using Westley-level charm, Adam convinced his stingy dad to buy him two fencing swords to practice in his “pursuit” of becoming a future Olympic champion. Unfortunately, the overly dramatic hijinks in The Princess Bride were no match for Murray, who saw right through his son’s grand manipulation. It also didn’t help that immediately after quitting fencing, Adam was sword fighting Dave Kim in his basement in full Princess Bride gear.

Plus, stabbing your father in the neck rarely helps anything.

Meanwhile, Beverly was busy being a yenta hell-bent on cross-fitting athletics with music. The result was the sweet sound of faculty romance (and kissing at school). The only downside was ruining Barry and Erica’s lives. Oh, and can’t forget about altering the stable career path of a certain music teacher. Besides that, this social experiment was a rousing success.

In order to fix everything, Beverly had to match up the unmatchable, romantically bitter teacher in his brown clothing from head -to-toe. But if this series has taught us anything, it’s that there are three words that inspire the greatest from Beverly Goldberg:

“Can’t be done.”

Back to Adam, he would need magic that could only be found in one place. The question was whether Murray would play along. This situation called for both sides to realize to be bigger than their own self-interests, no matter how embarrassing. Adam discovered his fencing inspiration from The Princess Bride for his fencing battle in front of a large crowd at school, including his dad and grandfather sitting front row center. And would you believe it? Embodying the goofy personalities from a movie led to an unexpected point for the swordsman-in-training. And in perfect harmony with his son, Murray literally embodied a giant character’s clothes (André, to be precise) from The Princess Bride movie for a scene of bonding with his youngest son and his friends after the match.

One of Adam’s dreams came true: His father understood the importance of an influential movie in his life.

You could say it was an inconceivable reality.

Whilst engaging in misguided hilarity, Beverly did manage to match the unmatchable with a little help from a future yenta. Erica couldn’t fight it, she has meddling DNA. In this instance, Beverly’s excitement nearly reached the adrenaline level achieved at a Jazzercise session.

This episode beautifully revealed that no matter how much we may resist things that we swear to ourselves are foolish and/or ridiculous, we are uncontrollably drawn to the foolish and ridiculous because, despite all logical reasoning, we know deep down that wishes are meant to come true.

Sometimes, all it takes is clicking play on a VCR…or an old garage door opener.